The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
In general, a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system for a vehicle includes an air conditioning module for warming or cooling a passenger compartment or cabin of the vehicle. The air conditioning module uses a compressor to circulate a heat exchange medium through a condenser, an expansion valve, an evaporator, etc. With this arrangement, the air conditioning system warms up or cools the cabin of the vehicle.
In a vehicle having a conventional internal combustion engine, the engine produces the power and heat used for the operation of the air conditioning system. Meanwhile, electricity is the sole or main power source for running environmentally friendly vehicles such as an electric vehicle, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, a fuel cell vehicle, and a hybrid vehicle, so that the consumption of electricity directly affects the travel capacity of the vehicles.
The auto-industry has strived for developing various technologies and systems to improve energy efficiency of the air conditioning system and at the same time for simplifying the system to reduce weight and manufacturing cost. However, there remains a desire to further increase energy efficiency and further reduce the cost of such HVAC systems.